Sunday, February 12, 2017

February Report

The sunroom has been sunny a few days recently, which has been lovely. I installed a new shelf on the wall at right, on which my orchids are now growing.

Greetings from winter in Iowa! It has been a strangely warm, overcast winter this year -- after several very cold nights (nearly -15°F) in December, we've hardly gotten colder than 20° at night and days in the 30s, which is very strange for what is usually a much colder time of year in this part of the country. And this past week we've had several days in the upper 50s. Those have been very enjoyable.

But with the comparative warmth has come, of course, cloudy skies, which has been unfortunate from the standpoint of spending time lolling in the sunshine in my sunroom. Perhaps only one or two days each week were sunny during most of January. But that did mean that I got a lot more work done on my book I'm writing about historic Iowa gardens -- I would really like to finish that project this year. 

At any rate, I have been able to enjoy a few days among my plants. Other than dealing with a fungal problem on my orange tree (which involved spraying a copper fungicide and trying not to breathe it or get any on my skin), puttering among my many plants has been quite enjoyable over winter. Here are a few scenes:


My sweet peas are gaining height.


I potted on my stocks (Matthiola) seedlings into a window seed starting tray.


I know many people cannot stand the scent of paperwhite narcissus, but I like them, and they
have made my sunroom smell very nice. The jasmine plant at left also has been blooming
with wonderfully scented flowers.


I used the gift certificate my husband gave me for Christmas from Logee's, and the weather was miraculously warm enough for several days for them to ship my order of tropical plants! Here are some of them potted up: Clerodendrum (Chains of Glory), Jasminum polyanthum (Winter Jasmine), Murraya paniculata (Orange Jasmine), Plumeria obtusa 'Dwarf Singapore Pink', Osmanthus fragrans 'Fudingzhu" (Sweet Olive -- which already has wonderfully scented tiny flowers), and a 'True Rose' Pelargonium. I can't wait for them to grow and flower!


My kitchen window, with the many brightly colored primroses that I found at Aldi for $0.99 each last month. They're still blooming their cute little faces off after several weeks! Have I mentioned how much I love Aldi?


I never knew that Sansevieria bloomed. The tiny flowers, to my surprise, were strongly
scented and smelled wonderful. I found this plant almost ready to bloom at (where else) Aldi, 
and bought one even though I always thought Sansevrieia were such a boring plant that I never 
intended to buy one. (Except for the 'African Spear' cylindrical kind, which is pretty cool.)


So that's it for inside. Usually at this time of year there's not much to say about outside, but it's been so warm that I walked around last weekend and took a few photos:

My east patio area, which I'm planning to redesign the planting of this spring.

I know my patio area doesn't look like much right now, but I've been planning to re-do it this spring, to make a Scented Garden. I'll move the plants that are currently here to other beds and plant only plants with nicely scented flowers or leaves: a couple of new highly scented roses, and a number of annuals from seeds that I have ordered. I'll also add several shrubs such as an extra mock orange that I have elsewhere, a small reblooming lilac and some peonies I need to move. Plus some tender bulbs for summer. And in fall I'll add some scented bulbs for spring. I've been reading a number of books about scented plants this winter to research what I will plant.


Here's the area last June. 

I'll move most of the rose bushes that are in the above photo to the beds in front of my sunroom, and move the other things to other beds that need more plants. (The hollyhocks in the photo above are completely self-seeded biennials, and I'll move any that spring up to other beds too.)


Along the east side of my house, the daffodils are already up.


As I walked around last weekend, I noticed that the daffodils next to the east side of my house are already up, and look like they've been up for several weeks already. This is unusually early.

But it's OK with me if spring holds off for another six weeks. I still have lots of work to do on my book before spring arrives, when I will need to spend all my time outside working nearly every day. My plant-filled sunroom has made winter so much more bearable -- even if I haven't been able to enjoy so many sunny days in it as I might have wished. But this next week's forecast calls for mostly sunny days, so I might not get much done....  :-)

Hope your winter is progressing well and that you are enjoying making plans for your own gardens this spring. Thanks for reading! -Beth



14 comments:

  1. Your sunroom is a dream! How wonderful that you can get a head start with seedlings. Your patio garden is so pretty. Love the furniture and the pretty plants you have surrounded it with. Can't wait until Spring gets here!

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    1. Hi Sonia, Thanks so much for reading -- I'm glad you like the sunroom. Hope your spring is a lovely one! -Beth

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  2. Hi Beth.... I can just imagine what your sunroom feels like this time of year!! I really miss my lean-to greenhouse from years ago that was open to the house... February was my favorite month in there! I know you enjoy all the sights and smells of the warm earth inside while you wait for spring outdoors... we are going to get to 50 degrees this week which concerns me... it's too early and I am concerned that a later cold snap could do a lot of damage... we do still have a fair amount of snow cover though... take care, Larry

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    1. Hi Larry, Thanks for stopping by. You should think about adding a sunroom to your house again -- it makes winter so much more bearable, and your winter is even colder and snowier than ours. I hope your warm days don't harm your spring blossoms, and that your snow cover will hold until you don't need it any more. Best wishes, -Beth

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  3. What fun you are having with your sunroom. It looks wonderful. The winter must seem much shorter for you sitting surrounded by your plants. And you are writing a garden book, perfect!

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    1. Hi Chloris, Thanks for stopping by -- I'm glad you like the sunroom. Hope your spring is warm and soon. Best, -Beth

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  4. It's lovely to see and enjoy your year - round gardening! You have some lovely plants in your sun room, and your new 'babies' all look to be a picture of health! Bet you can't wait for them to get bigger!
    What high winter temperatures you are enjoying! We had a spring-like day, here in the `Uk, and it really lifted the spirits!

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    1. Hi Jane, Thanks so much for reading -- I'm so glad you have been enjoying some spring-like weather in the UK. It really makes such a difference in getting us through 'till spring. Best, -Beth

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  5. I noticed a few daffodils here... I wish we were having a normal February down here in SE Iowa. I relish the continued winter month of dreaming about Spring! Your porch is great. Your sanseveria is loving its location, obviously!!
    Happy February!

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    1. Hi Shady Gardener, Glad you stopped by -- and that you like the sunroom. I agree, the weather has been unusual this past week, but it's Iowa weather -- you never know what we'll get. Best, -Beth

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  6. Your sun room is absolutely gorgeous and a dream! Your photos are beautiful. I really enjoyed this post, thank you so much for sharing. :)

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    1. Hi Linda, Thanks for your kind words about the sunroom and other photos -- I'm so glad you have enjoyed them. Thanks for visiting! Best, -Beth

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  7. Hi Beth! Your sunroom is absolutely gorgeous and everything just looks so lush and happy! I love all your other indoor plants too and how amazing about the Sansevieria - it is such a pretty flower! I must have missed that you were writing a book - what a wonderful idea. It must be so interesting to research. When do you think it will be published?

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    1. Hi Kate, You must be back from your trip to England -- so glad you stopped by! Who knows when my book will be done -- I hope to finish it this year and will look for publishers after mid-year. These things do tend to drag on, but it's a fun project, so I guess I shouldn't be in a hurry. Hope your gardens are doing well this spring. Best, -Beth

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